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Bowman V. Monsanto Before The U.S. Supreme Court

In the news release, Bowman v. Monsanto Before the U.S. Supreme Court, issued 18-Feb-2013 by Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that Mr. Bowman will be available to the media at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW. The complete release follows:

Bowman v. Monsanto Before the U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A 75-year-old Indiana grain farmer will observe as the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, weighs arguments over his right to plant and use seeds that he purchased legally.

Vernon Hugh Bowman, who grows soybeans, has carried his fight against $12 billion agribusiness giant Monsanto Company to the highest court in the land as he seeks to earn his living from the soil. He is represented by Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP.

Monsanto in 2007 sued Mr. Bowman to stop him from using and selling soybean seeds from plants that had, in turn, been grown from seeds genetically modified by Monsanto to produce plants resistant to herbicides. This allows farmers to kill neighboring weeds without harming the soybean plants.

Farmer Bowman legally purchased seeds at a grain elevator, which bought them from farmers who had, with Monsanto's authorization, used the genetically modified Monsanto seeds to grow their soybean crops.

Monsanto claims that Mr. Bowman infringed its patents on herbicide-resistant plants and seeds by using the grain elevator seeds to grow his soybean crops. Mr. Bowman asserts that Monsanto's sales of the original seeds to authorized purchasers exhausted Monsanto's patent rights and therefore Monsanto cannot enforce its patents against second-generation and later seeds that resulted from planting the original seeds.